Launched in April 2020, the Ordnance Survey (OS) Data Hub supports businesses, developers and new and emerging markets and users. It was one of the first outputs from the Geospatial Commissions Public Sector Geospatial Agreement (PSGA), which aims at sharing location insights with governments around the world to help them make informed decisions.
With 8,210 developers and 1.2 billion transactions in the last financial year, both the public and private sectors prefer the OS Data Hub for their work now, given the way OS location data is accessed and used.
The evolution of the OS Data Hub has benefited thousands of users of OS data by sorting out issues regarding accessibility, usability and licensing. In addition, the hub has attracted a new influx of developers and organizations, from a range of sectors and markets, to work and innovate with OS data.
API a time savior
The Application Programming Interface (API) not only helps save time but also resources. It allows users to focus on using accurate geospatial data to underpin decisions, gain insight, support public services and drive innovation. Another significant benefit is a reduction in data management overheads removing the need to spend time downloading and managing data.
“In the last year, we have completed five releases, mainly around premium data download functionality for the public sector and our partners. Plus, enhancements for various APIs and other services, such as our error reporting tool. This has significantly enhanced the OS Data Hub’s functionality and experience for customers. In terms of customer adoption, we have nearly doubled the number of users who have signed up to the OS Data Hub,” says Michael Gordon, Strategic Product Manager at Ordnance Survey.
What numbers state
The second year has seen public sector organization sign-ups to the OS Data Hub increase by 96%. There was also a 56.6% increase in partner organizations, and a staggering 114.2% increase in Open Plan users.
“In addition to analyzing discovery to withdrawal, our main focus has been discovery, prototyping, and delivery for the PSGA,” Michael adds.
Tackling COVID-19
In the public sector, OS data played a critical part in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. OS addressing data, via the OS Places API, was vital for accurately delivering over 250 million home testing kits, and supporting test and trace.
Location data was also used to map vulnerable citizens in the community who needed extra support during the lockdown.
For example, Barnsley Council was able to create a local COVID-19 test and trace system and developed a vulnerability index at a household level helped by OS data products.
Startup support
In the private sector, prop-tech organizations such as PropertyData and HomeFinder use OS API’s for better decision making and gaining actionable insights. PropertyData, the UK’s most comprehensive and wide-ranging array of residential property market data and analytics functionality, also use OS Maps API, OS Features API, and OS Places API.
“OS MasterMap is the gold standard for web maps that adds significant value to products,” says the founder Michael Dent.
In the developer space, start-up and Geovation member Paua, which aim to simplify electric charging for business and fleet solutions, recently took part in OS Map and Hack. Using the OS Maps API for their basemap, Paua also used the OS Features API to identify geographic features such as local amenities, including cafes and restaurants that are located at various charging stations.
On this, André Pinho, Co-founder and CTO at Paua Tech who led the hack team, says, “The OS expertise in mapping, combined with the digital tools on offer, enabled us to start demonstrating new features that we will be building into our solutions.”
